‘School of Rock’ – ‘Immigrant Song’

School of Rock is already a near-perfect movie, as it taught kids everywhere not only what good rock music was, but why such rock music was so important. Plenty of great songs appear in here as Jack Black shows the youth what it means to rebel with the power of metal, but the one that caught music lovers’ attention the most was Led Zeppelin’s classic ‘Immigrant Song’.

Led Zeppelin notoriously didn’t let people use their music, but made an exception for School of Rock after Black sent a heartfelt plea to the band.

“I begged them on video with a huge audience of extras in the movie theatre that we were shooting in, and they all chanted with me: ‘Led Zeppelin, please bless us with your love!’” recalled Black, “I don’t remember what I said, it was ridiculous and off the top of my head, and [Richard Linklater] sent it over there to them to England, and it worked.”

‘Maximum Overdrive’ – ‘Who Made Who’

School of Rock was a good film made better with its song, whereas Maximum Overdrive was a bad movie made bearable thanks to its inclusion of AC/DC. Stephen King opted to write and direct a film about an asteroid passing over Earth, which caused machines to rise up and take over the planet (the answer to your question is cocaine).

“The problem with that film is that I was coked out of my mind all through its production,” said King, “And I really didn’t know what I was doing”. Pretty much every decision King made in this film was bonkers, but the one thing he got right was asking AC/DC to record the soundtrack for it.

One of the standout tracks they wrote for the film was ‘Who Made Who’, a philosophical number about the interesting relationship between man and machine. It’s a great standalone track, but then, it also made the chaotic nature of Maximum Overdrive seem, momentarily, quite cool.

‘Armageddon’ – ‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’

Aerosmith often get a hard time for what many consider a lack of originality, but there is no escaping how much they managed to move listeners with the classic track ‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’. Written for the film Armageddon, the song that kept devotion at its very centre brought cinemas everywhere to tears, and became an instant classic in the process.

While you’ll struggle to find a karaoke bar that isn’t playing this track at least once a night, the original writer of it, Diane Warren, admitted that she cringes when she thinks of some of the lyrics. Regardless of how much she loves or loathes her own creation, though, you can’t get away from the fact that it made the 1998 disaster movie all the better.

“Some of the lyrics, like ‘I can stay awake just to hear you breathing,’ I’d be like, ‘No, don’t do that. Don’t watch me breathe. I won’t be able to sleep,” said Warren, “Go do something else’. It’s so funny, because part of me would never want someone to say that to me, but then again, I write it.”

‘Reservoir Dogs’ – ‘Stuck in the Middle With You’

Quentin Tarantino divides opinion a fair bit these days, but he was celebrated en masse following his initial release, Reservoir Dogs, a perfect blend of his exceptional dialogue and directorial eye, the whole film leaves viewers on the edge of their seats from start to finish. It’s all pretty memorable, but if there was one moment in particular which all fans have ingrained in their head, and the scene plays against a backdrop of Stealers Wheel.

The scene in question involves Mr Blonde torturing a police officer in the hope he’ll get some information out of him. The camera pans around as Blonde cuts off the cop’s ear, and we hear the piercing screams of anguish, alongside which, only to add to the horrifying nature of the scene, is the song ‘Stuck In The Middle with You’.

In the middle of his barbaric questioning, Blonde takes the time to mouth the lyrics to the song and even do a little dance every now and then. Far from just being a sonic contrast, the inclusion of this song really helps highlight the psychotic nature of a true villain.

‘Wayne’s World’ – ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’

Torturing aside, let’s end on a high; the only person who truly knew what the song ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was about was Freddie Mercury, who kept his cards close to his chest and asked people to come up with their own explanation.

“It’s one of those songs which has such a fantasy feel about it,” he said, “I think people should just listen to it, think about it, and then make up their own minds as to what it says to them”.

The ambiguity and flamboyance of the track make it the perfect comedic number to play in the movie Wayne’s World, where, as Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar drive, they sing along to the Queen classic, and the result is a beautiful glimpse into friendship and something which is also inherently silly. They couldn’t have picked a better song for this moment, and the scene is still considered a classic by all who watch it.